Discovered on an island off the coast of Madagascar, the newfound plant grows up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) high and blooms once a year with a "really foul" stench, according to discoverer Greg Wahlert, a postdoctoral researcher in botany at the University of Utah.

Lynn Bohs, a biology professor in the same lab as Wahlert, described the smell in a statement as a combination of "rotting roadkill" and a "Porta Potty."

The new flower adds to the roughly 170 species in the Amorphophallus genus, which means "misshapen penis" in Greek after the phallic shape of the plants' flowers.

Wahlert discovered the new species—named A. perrieri—in full bloom while collecting violets in two remote islands northwest of Madagascar in 2006 and 2007. (See more flower pictures.)

Suspecting the plant might be a new species, he brought back samples and began cultivating them. After consulting with an Amorphophallus expert in the Netherlands, he confirmed that A. perrieri was a previously undescribed species.

Because A. perrieri is dormant for much of the year, Wahlert's discovery is a case of good timing.

For months out of the year, there's little rain in that part of Madagascar, so the plants remain dormant underground.

"These things are growing out of the most miserable soil," said Wahlert, who is working on a scientific paper about the species.